onebyone. 2009 Kickoff

Hey Guys,

After a long and restful summer, we will have our first wonbyone. meeting of the year on September 11. Same bat time, same bat channel. We've got some big, and little, changes planned for the year, with a really, really great study in the Word!

Remember, anyone who is twelve years old during fall semester is welcome to join us starting right away in September. If you have friends who you would like to bring along, please do! We love to see new faces!

the wonbyone. crew

A Glimpse - To Be Determined

Thanks Reid

Acts 13:1-12

We have here the beginning of Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey. As they set off, they first go to Cyprus, where they run into Bar-Jesus, a false prophet and magician. Bar-Jesus does everything in his power to keep the Proconsul from hearing the Gospel, but Paul confronts him. He calls out Bar-Jesus' unrighteousness and declares a curse of blindness from the Lord on him. After this, because of the teachings of the Gospel, the Proconsul believes!

From this passage, we can see 6 Characteristics of False Religion
1) It steers people away from true religion
2) It is full of lies
3) It is of the Devil
4) It is the enemy of the Righteous
5) It makes the straight crooked

6) In the end, it will receive its just reward!

False religion isn't just from outside the church. It isn't just Muslims and Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. It can come from within- just as Bar-Jesus claimed to be a Jewish teacher and prophet. False religion will always seek to drag others down. Jesus rebuked unbelieving Jews, saying:
"In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND;
YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,
WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,
AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES,
OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES,
HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,
AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN,
AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.' (MATT 13: 14-15 )

If you're clinging to your own goodness, or what is comfortable, just like the Pharisees, Jesus will pronounce judgment on you one day for relying on your own false religion! There is only one who can open eyes and unstop ears, the same One who sent out Paul and Barnabas. Put aside your self-made religion and believe in Jesus Christ as the one and only thing that can save your soul!

Acts 9 & 10

Two weeks ago, Tim Knotts taught on the conversion of a man mightily used of God; Saul, later known as the apostle Paul. It was amazing to see things in the transformed life of this Saul of Tarsus. It happened on the way to, and in, Damascus (which is quite an old city [c.f. Gen 14:15]). With Jesus' appearing to him, what resulted in Saul was:

Fear; Saul immediately recognized the Lord, whom he was persecuting [by way of persecuting His body]

Faith; As worked in him by the Lord

Filling with the Holy Spirit; Empowered for ministry.

Saul immediately started ministering, preaching the gospel; the Christ, as the Son of God.

It was noted that with Saul:
-he was not looking to be saved...we naturally are all like that
-he was not only saved from sin/death/hell, but also to Someone & something (preaching the gospel of Christ Jesus)...does your life reflect this same reality in the capacity the Lord has put you in?
-those who used to like him began to hate him when he was saved...don't be surprised if that happens/has happened to you!

Then last week we progressed with Luke turning the attention back on the ministry of Peter (Acts 9:32-10:33), as we saw the propagation of the gospel by the command of God. Reflecting back on Acts 1:8, we noted the trend of the gospel spreading as the Lord commanded. In this transforming gospel of grace, we recognized:

Good works in obedience to God;
-Peter being used of/by God anywhere & everywhere, to multitudes & individuals, in his sphere as a leader in the church (all the regions, then specifically Lydda, Joppa, and this Jew lived with a tanner of all people)
-Tabitha/Dorcas, a woman used of God in her sphere; in Joppa serving widows who could not pay her back
-[Do you serve God in the sphere He has placed you in? abounding in good works, continually? Notice that this only happens as a result of you being a disciple/being saved (not in order to be saved) - are you a disciple of Jesus Christ?]

Miracles by the power of God; at that time, authenticating the word preached and the preachers of God (here, specifically, there was the healing of Aeneas and raising of Tabitha from the dead). The message was that of calling men to salvation in Christ (c.f. Acts 9:35, 42).

Salvation from God alone; it was because Tabitha was saved that she lived such a transformed life. God sovereignly saves and sovereignly uses means, like the miracles at that time and the, not perfect, but faithful disciples such as Peter and Tabitha.

Now, God sovereignly had Peter staying with Simon the tanner (Simon Peter at Simon's place :)), and this was perfect for what was to follow:

The Sovereign workings of God; we see this in God's timing of events, the visions from God (to Cornelius and Peter, by way of preparation), and the people God works in and through (think of Cornelius the upstanding and religious citizen; and Peter the prejudiced Jewish Christian)

The Impartiality of God; remember now that the farthest away you can go from a Jew is a Gentile. The next step 'to the ends of the earth' for the church was starting not too far geographically. Peter had to be prepared and taught about the unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ, in His church. The gospel was to be preached, freely offered, indiscriminately to all...to the ends of the earth. Cornelius had not been able to be known as God's own without him doing things and going through the rites to become like a Jew. But the gospel is about what God has accomplished, and it's a transforming gospel, not leaving us as we are, but reconciling us to God that we may be faithful disciples where we are. Even we (non-Jews/Gentiles) can be saved! :)

The Message of God; the narrative so far has built up to this climax/pivotal point (c.f. Acts 10:22, 33). Tune in at wonbyOne tonight [continuing in Acts 10] for more details :).

-Cornelius and family needed this message in order to be right with God...how indiscriminately do you share the gospel?
-Do you think the gospel is for other people and not for you?
-What is the gospel [of Jesus Christ]?

Hey there WonbyOne! How is everybody? I understand that those in public school went back after a week of vacation. I hope you enjoyed your time off with your family and friends. =)

Getting right to business (I'm a "right to business" kind of a guy), we studied Acts 8:9-25 this past Friday night, and we broke the text into four parts:

The idolatry of the Samaritans (vv9-11)
The salvation of the Samaritans (vv12-13)
The citizenship of the Samaritans (vv14-17)
The false faith of the Samaritan (vv18-24)

Where the Samaritans represent a group of people Phillip preached to, and who repented, confessing Christ as Lord (Phillip was preaching the "Kingdom of God" (v12), which obviously entails Lordship); not represent all ALL Samaritans, of course.

We had some theological discussion, as well as some really practical discussion, which was great! We spoke about the futility of idolatry (looking at Isa 44:9-20), as well idolatry's inclusion in the list of sins which people, who will not in heaven, continually and unrepentantly walk in (Gal 5:19-21, 1 Cor 6:9-10). We expanded idolatry beyond just worshiping a piece of wood, or a human being claiming to be someone special, to other things as well that we worship more than the true God. John Calvin called the human heart an idol factory, for it is desperately wicked, and will replace God with that which is non-condemning, non-judging and will not hold it accountable for sin. I believe this to be the primary reason liberal theologians twist the Bible, and deny its validity, accuracy or perspiquity (clarity), for they refuse to submit to its authority! They deny the God of the Bible, and worship a false god, who allows them to go on in their sinful rebellion against their creator. Indeed, they're very religious, and say many pious things, but on the inside, in their hearts, they are hypercrites, and refuse to glorify a just and holy God.
We briefly spoke about the difference in the nature of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers between the OT and the NT. We've differentiated between being "Baptized" in the Spirt with being "filled" with Him in the past, so we won't diverge to cover that which has been covered already (but if there are questions, lets talk =)). When we study the Bible, and interpret it literally, we find the the Holy Spirit didn't permanantly dwell in a believer until the church age was initiated at Pentecost. These people (the Samaritans) were regenerated already, but the Spirt had not yet come upon them. Peter and John praying that those who were just saved through Philip's preaching (God saves through a positional sanctification of the Spirit, AND faith in the TRUTH, 2 Thes 2:13) was to show both the Jews and Samaritans that there is no division in the church, ratial or any other! We still have yet to see a similar event with respect to the gentiles, and John the babtist's former disciples. This no longer happens today because the church is fully established. The book of Acts is in many ways a "transition" period, where the church is coming into maturity, and many things have to be established, including but not limited to the understanding that the body of Christ is not divided by race, ethnicity, family history, place in the world (rich versus poor, for example), etc. This phase of transition is a testimony of the diffence in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in believers between the OT and the NT.
We finally spent some time talking about Simon's false, non saving faith. Simon was impressed with Phillip's signs (8:6) but wasn't all that interested in his message of salvation! The gospel is a message of God's just wrath towards sin, His perfect and holy standard revealed through His Law (and our consciences), our being lawbreakers by nature because of the fall, and therefore our deserving of His jugement! However, it's also a message of God's grace for sinners, in His forgiving sin, giving a free gift of perfect righteousness (that of Jesus Christ) and changing one's nature through regeneration, so that they love righteousness, and hunger and thirst after it. =) The true gospel has both negative and positive aspects! A person can't be saved if they don't know they're lost. How can a person understand the importance of Christ's death on the cross for sin if they don't understand what they deserve? Some people today want to minimize the gospel, make it quick and easy. The scripture judges their false gospel. Simon would have been interested in an easy gospel, a gospel that allowed him to continue on in his idolatry, but as we clearly saw, Peter wouldn't have it (8:20-23). Let's give it up for the Apostle Peter! Men who are faithful, like Peter is here, are today hated for their refusal to compromise the gospel, and compromise in regards to God's commands. They're seen as unmerciful, ungracious and proud. In reality, we need more men like them!

Philip the Evangelist

This is an amazing account of the power of the gospel as it goes out from Jerusalem. On Friday we looked at how Saul led the first great persecution against Christians as a whole, having them arrested in their homes. This drove many to flee out of Jerusalem, but they didn't just go and hide! They took the gospel with them and planted churches!

Philip, one of the "seven" from Acts 6, goes out to Samaria. There, he preaches the Gospel and many believe. This fulfills Acts 1:8, where Christ orders His followers to take His message to Samaria.

After this, an Angel appears and tells Philip to go out on the desert road, which he does. He meets an Ethiopian eunuch, and finds that the man is reading a copy of the book of Isaiah. After asking if he understands (which he doesn't), Philip takes this CLEARLY God-given opportunity to explain how both Isaiah and the rest of the scriptures are about Jesus. He shows that, like the Samaritans who were cast out from worship in the Temple, the gentiles and even eunuchs can worship Jehovah through his Son.

The eunuch believes, and has such great joy in his salvation, that when he sees some water nearby, he immediately asks to be baptized. He asks, "What prevents me from being baptized?" What a great question!

So where is your heart? Do you have understanding of Jesus' gospel? Do you understand the wrath that God has against your sin? Do you have joy in the scriptures because you know that Jesus' death atones for your sins, and that nothing else will do? If so, and you haven't been baptized, why not?

I hope you guys all enjoyed our "guest speaker" on Friday night. Did you do your homework? If not, do it today!